Doctor charged with attempted murder and arson after allegedly setting fire at Montgomery County home

Authorities have charged a Narberth-based doctor with attempted murder and related offenses after she allegedly set fire to a home in Montgomery County last month, Lower Merion Township Police said.

Amy L. Cohen, 35, is also facing charges of arson, terroristic threats, stalking, reckless endangerment, ethnic intimidation, and simple assault in connection with the incident at the home of the grandmother of an ex-boyfriend’s girlfriend, court records indicate.

Authorities said an investigation began Nov. 24 after Lower Merion police found a threatening flier that referenced antisemitic language and the victim’s Merion home. The flier made threats against the elderly female resident’s granddaughters, who do not live at the home.

Similar fliers had also been found at homes of the victim’s family members in Philadelphia and elsewhere in Montgomery County, police said.

Then, a woman set a fire at the house’s front door around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, security camera footage showed. Footage showed the woman attempting to “accelerate the fire by spraying flammable liquid” into the flames, police said.

The fire burned out before moving beyond the home’s porch. Authorities did not say whether anyone was injured.

Fire departments in Lower Merion and Norristown, Pennsylvania State Police, and the FBI processed the scene, and investigators identified a suspect who authorities said was previously involved in a relationship with a boyfriend of one of the victim’s granddaughters. That suspect was Cohen, police allege.

Investigators obtained search warrants for Cohen’s home and vehicle, and executed them Friday. The searches yielded evidence, which police did not describe, that connected Cohen to the crime, and she was arrested the same day, officials said. She has since been arraigned, and is being held at Montgomery County Correctional Facility in lieu of $5 million cash bail.

Cohen’s case is awaiting a hearing date, according to court records.

An attorney listed as representing Cohen in court documents did not immediately respond to request for comment.

According to Cohen’s LinkedIn page, she works as a doctor at Bryn Mawr Hospital. A staff bio page with Cohen’s information has since been removed from the Bryn Mawr Medical Specialists Association’s website.